xpuyopuyo(6)xpuyopuyo(6)NAMExpuyopuyo - A tetris-like puzzle game for X11.
This manpage agrees with version 0.9.5 of xpuyopuyo.
SYNOPSISxpuyopuyo
xpuyopuyo [options]
xpuyopuyo--help
DESCRIPTION
Xpuyopuyo is a Tetris-like puzzle game where you strive to match up
four ``blobs'' of the same color. Each match gives you points, and
also dumps gray rocks on your opponent which are irritating and trou‐
blesome to get rid of. Multiple matches at one time score more points,
and result in more rocks being dumped on the opponent (much to their
dismay). First person to fill up their screen with puyopuyo blobs
loses.
The game features an AI, and is capable of single-player, human-human
play, human-AI gameplay, or AI-AI gameplay (demo mode). It will keep
track of the total number of matches each player recieves, and the num‐
ber of single-matches, double-matches, triple-matches, etc. as well.
We ported it overnight to Linux, so we could play whenever we felt
like. The AI's evolved more slowly; the original implementation took a
week to develop. The current implementation is evolved using genetic
algorithms; more documentation on this is available in the distribu‐
tion. I always welcome new AI rules, or suggestions to improve the AI.
This version is modelled on several other versions we have seen around;
the original (which I have not had the opportunity to play) is made by
Compile, http://www.compile.co.jp./.
I release this so others may enjoy it. If this game causes someone out
their to flame/flunk out of college, then apologies but it's the game's
fault, not mine :). Additional information, documentation is available
in the distribution.
GAMEPLAY
The idea is to match up colored blobs together. A match is any chain
of 4 or more blobs of the same color, that are adjacent to each other
(up, down, right, or left). The game gives you a playing piece with
two colored blobs, which you can move around the playing field and
rotate as it falls to the ground. In gameplay, it is similar to
Tetris.
You get points for completing a match, and all blobs involved in the
match will disappear. Larger matches (matches of more than 4 blobs)
and multiple matches at the same time score much more points.
Also, if you are in a 2-player game, then several rocks will be dumped
on your opponent when you complete a match. Rocks have no color; a
chain of rocks does not complete a match. However, any rock adjacent
to a match will be eliminated. Again, larger matches and multiple
matches at the same time will cause more rocks to be dumped onto the
opponent.
(The truly unfortunate may discover the indestructible rock or other
forms of evil rocks. You are truly fortunate if you survive such an
encounter.)
The game ends when you fill up your playing field. So try to keep the
playing field as low as possible. See the options below for some of
the features of the game you can enable.
COMMAND SWITCHES
Many of xpuyopuyo's options may be configured by the command line. A
summary and description of available options is below. Note, that some
options might not be available, depending on how you built xpuyopuyo.
To see a list of supported options, run xpuyopuyo--help. Options are
processed in the order they are read; later options can clobber earlier
options, so it's good to make the difficulty option the first one.
General options:
-h, --help
Display a summary of the options available.
--insanity
This is insanity, Max! Or what if it's genius?
-1, --oneplayer
Select one player game. No rocks in this version. Either
player's controls will work in this mode.
-2, --twoplayer
Select two player game, human versus human. Player 1's controls
are on the keyboard, and player 2's are in the numeric keypad
(this may be configured, however).
-a, --aiplayer
Select two player game, human versus computer. Either player's
controls will work for the human player.
-d, --demo
Select two player game, computer versus computer. Fun to setup
two different AI's against each other and watch them go (the
current longest running demo game I've seen was 57 hours long,
and that was only ended by a bug in the timer code which caused
one of the AI's to pause. By the time I noticed what had hap‐
pened, the other AI had racked up an unbelievable 6,000 rocks
against his frozen opponent ...).
-e, --easy
Easy gameplay. Enables options for easier gameplay. This option
is currently equivalent to --noaidrop -number=4 --nullify
--noindestructibles.
-m, --medium
Medium gameplay. Enables more difficult round. Currently, this
is equivalent to the following: --aidrop -number=5 --nullify
--indestructibles.
-H, --hard
Hard gameplay. Enables the most difficult of gameplay. Cur‐
rently, this is equivalent to the following: --aidrop -number=6
--nonullify --indestructibles. Later options can override the
options set by -e, -m, or -H.
-n, --number=n
Specify the number of colors to use. This value can range from
4 to 6. The default is set by the difficulty level.
-t, --restart
This is a toggle option. Automatically restart after a ``Game
Over''. Useful when combined with the -d flag. The inversion
of this flag is -/t, --norestart.
-T, --tutorial
This is a toggle option. Enable tutorial mode. In tutorial
mode, an AI will assist you by choosing a move it thinks is
appropriate. You may still control the piece with the player
controls. The inversion of this flag is -/T, --notutorial.
--theme name
Select a theme to use on startup. The default is ``default''.
--tooltips
This is a toggle option. When set, tooltips are displayed. The
default is for this flag to be set. To turn off tooltips, use
--notooltips.
--quiet
This is a toggle option. When set, no output is printed to std‐
out. The default is for this flag to be cleared. To turn off
quiet use --noquiet.
Sound Options:
-S, --sound
This is a toggle option that enables music and sound effects.
The inversion of this flag is -/S, --nosound.
--hqmixer
This is a toggle option that enables use of the high quality
mixer provided by mikmod. Depending on your soundcard, this may
have no effect. Defaults to off, to turn off high quality mix‐
ing use --nohqmixer.
--effects
This is a toggle option that enables sound effects. Defaults to
on when sound is supported. To turn off sound effects use
--noeffects.
Advanced Options:
--width=n
Specify the width of the playing field. The default is 6.
--height=n
Specify the height of the playing field. The default is 14.
--match=n
Specify the number of blobs in a chain required for a match.
The default is 4. For more difficult gameplay, increase this
value.
-U, --nullify
This is a toggle option. When on, your rocks can nullify the
opponents rocks. During the game, when you complete a match
rocks are sent to the opponent, but they do not fall until their
playing piece lands. In the meantime, if they accumulate any
rocks against you, the rocks may instead be used to nullify the
rocks accumulated against them. If this option is off, then all
rocks that are sent will fall on the opponent -- eventually.
This option is on in easier gameplay; the inversion of this flag
is -/U, --nonullify.
-I, --indestructibles
This is a toggle option. When on, "indestructible" blocks are
allowed in the game. If a player accumulates a large number of
matches at once (a quintuple-match is usually enough), then in
addition to several rows of rocks being dumped on the opponent,
an indestructible block will also fall on the opponent. This
rock cannot be destroyed, and the best the opponent can do is
try to get it down to the bottom of the screen where it is at
least out of the way. This mode of gameplay can make life very
interesting, indeed. This is only enabled by default on hard
difficulty; the inverwsion of this flag is -/I, --noindestruc‐
tibles.
Player Options:
-s, --speed=n
Set the speed for falling blocks for the player, in milliseconds
per drop. The default is determined by difficulty level. A
typical value is 350.
-A, --accel=n
Set the acceleration of the speed over time, in percentage of
time lost per minute. This speeds the game up over time. An
acceleration is only enabled on the harder difficulty levels.
The acceleration is a floating-point value between 0 and 1.
AI Options:
-r, --airule2=n
Select the AI rule for the right player. This option is better
set in the user interface, under the AI menu. n must be an
integer value. If n is random then a random AI is chosen.
-R, --airule1=n
Select the AI rule for the left player. This option is better
set in the user interface, under the AI menu. n must be an
integer value. If n is random then a random AI is chosen.
-c, --aiscore
This is a toggle option. This is a debug option, and is better
left turned off. If set, the "AI score" is displayed instead of
the next piece in the main game. The AI score is the ranking
for the current move; higher scores mean the AI judged a partic‐
ular move to be "better". Note that since each AI has its own
ideas on what makes a good move, this score is highly dependent
on the mindset of the selected AI. There's not even any attempt
to normalise the AI score with scores from its peers. So this
number cannot be meaningfully compared with scores for other
AI's. The inversion of this option is -/c, --noaiscore.
-i, --aidrop
This is a toggle option. If set, the AI is allowed to drop
pieces when the human opponent drops a piece. This allows the
AI to keep up with human players, and makes for a more challeng‐
ing game. This option is on by default on higher difficulty
levels; the inversion of this is -/i, --noaidrop.
Network Options:
--server
This starts a new server. The server has the advantage of being
able to set the game options. It will wait for a connection
from a client, then the game may begin. The server will listen
on the default port unless --port is also given.
--client=server
This connects to the server specified. The connection will be
made to the default port on the server given, unless the --port
option is also given.
--port=n
This specifies an alternate port than the default, for network
games.
--networkai
Enables AI in a network game. This is intended for debugging
only. This is a toggle option; its inverse is --nonetworkai.
Tournament Options:
The tournament options are for AI breeding mode only, and are not well
documented. They are: -z, --tournament, -Z, --hypertournament, and -Y
In the GTK version, there will be exactly one indestructible block in
the About box. Curious, don't you think?
PLAYER CONTROLS
The player controls are configurable in the game. They may be viewed
and/or redefined in the Options menu. You can define up to three keys
per action per player. The actions are left, right, rotate, and drop.
Note, that when you assign keys, key combinations are not allowed, and
you should probably avoid attempting to assign a modifier key. The
keys Enter, P, and Escape will restart the current game, pause a game,
and end the current game (respectively) unless you assign these keys to
a player control. If you assign these keys as player controls, you can
still use Ctrl-R, Ctrl-Z, and Ctrl-P to perform the same actions.
When in single-player or human-AI mode, you may use either player's
controls to control your game field.
NETWORK GAMEPLAY
Network gameplay is much like normal 2-player gameplay, except you must
first setup a network connection between two games. One xpuyopuyo game
will act as a server, and the other will act as a client. First, on
the server side, select the Network menu, Server and click Ok (you may
change the port to listen to, if you like). Then on the client side,
select the Network, Client Connection. Enter the machine name of the
server and the port number to use (if you changed it in the server) and
click Ok.
To begin a network game, both players must select New Game in the Game
menu. The game will wait until both players are ready before starting
the game.
AI GAMEPLAY
AI's are created using Genetic Algorithms. The flexible formulas allow
the AI to take advantage of certain scenarios, and allow the AI to
weight them accordingly. The rules are changing constantly as the AI
evolves, and suggestions on new rules are welcome. A general list of
strategies follows (not sorted in any particular order). The AI checks
every possible move with the current piece and uses the rules it
evolved to determine which is the best move.
Distance from top of playing field
We don't want the AI to stack up all its pieces at the top of
the screen.
Hard limit to the height of structures
As much as we don't like height, we really don't want the AI
building things within the top four or so rows of the field.
This rule carries a lot of weight in all AI personalities.
Opportunity to complete a match
Bonus to complete several matches at once
The AI decides this by simulating what would happen if it put
the game piece in various locations.
Penalty for blocking a potential match
For example, covering a hole with three blobs of the same color
already present). Some AI's choose to break this rule more than
others; in general these AI's tend to get more multiple-matches
(often triples or quadruples).
Eliminating rocks
Some AI's consider it a small benefit to try to eliminate as
many rocks as possible. If the AI has a choice of two matches,
the deciding factor could be in which one eliminates more rocks.
FILES
~/.xpuyopuyo/airule.*
A list of AI rules. To reset the AI rules to the defaults,
remove these files.
~/.xpuyopuyo/config
Configuration options for xpuyopuyo. All of these options can
be set from the interface, there should be no need to edit this
file directly.
~/.xpuyopuyo/highscores
High scores for xpuyopuyo.
~/.xpuyopuyo/userkeys
User-defined keys for player controls.
xpuyopuyo.txt
Manual page for xpuyopuyo. This is installed to your local share
directory, and used for the on-line help system.
copying.txt
Copy of the GPL. This is installed to your local share direc‐
tory, and used for the on-line help system.
SEE ALSO
The xpuyopuyo home page at <http://chaos2.org/xpuyopuyo>. There is
also additional documentation in the distribution, under the doc/
directory.
AUTHORSxpuyopuyo was written by Justin David Smith <justins(at)chaos2.org>,
and the original images were designed by Owen Aftreth. The first GTK
version was ported by Havoc Pennington.
This manual page written by Justin David Smith <justins(at)chaos2.org>.
Copyright(c) 2001,2000-1999 Justin David Smith.
(Please do not list these e-mail addresses on webpages, or list them in
other packages, without contacting us first.)
Justin David Smith March 2000 xpuyopuyo(6)
